Lucas Herbert was quietly relieved he didn’t know about the Post Malone concert Min Woo Lee was heading to after both made bright starts to their Australian PGA Championship campaigns.
Lee (seven-under) and Herbert (five-under) have experienced contrasting seasons, the former earning full PGA Tour status while the latter now must rely on past-champion exemptions next year after dropping below the FedEx Fall cut line.
Both are in the mix for a maiden Australian PGA title at Royal Queensland this weekend in a hot field currently headed by Spanish surprise leader Joel Moscatel Nachshon (eight-under).
Herbert will begin his second round at 6am on Friday in Brisbane, Lee taking advantage of his 11.10am start by attending American rapper Post Malone’s gig overnight.
“Sleep. Sleep will be my key,” Herbert said.
“I need to go to bed now to get enough sleep for the morning tee time (but) geez, I wish I had of known about Post Malone, that would have been a good one.
“It’s not club golf, where you can waltz up and hit 10 putts with a pie in one hand before you go to the first tee.
“So, if you’re going to show up late and not put in good preparation, then you’re sort of kidding yourself. You’re starting a long way behind everyone else.”
Herbert surged towards the top of the leaderboard with four straight birdies, holing a testing putt for par to close a confidence-boosting round.
“It’s obviously still in there somewhere,” he said after a US season that’s netted just one top-10 finish.
“I’ve been lacking a bit of confidence lately.
“It was a tough day out there, I put a good score on the board, so that gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the week.”
Adam Scott is one of five others on five-under, while John Lyras signed for 65 to sit outright third at six-under.
Three-time winner and defending champion Cameron Smith (two-over 73) has work to do after an opening round soured by “frustrating, upsetting” iron play.
